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News | Washington Commanders - Commanders.com

Joe Gibbs Monday Press Conference

On how they played on special teams against Dallas:

"Our starting yard line was the 37 yard line. Theirs was the 29. That is hard to do. It is outstanding. On our kickoff coverage the longest run that they got was 21 yards. We had a couple things that happened to us on kickoff returns that we have to correct. There was another demonstration penalty in the game this time it was on their side. It shows you how dramatic that penalty is. It is a 15-yard penalty. We did not get the most out of that. On punt returns, (Antwaan) Randle El (WR, #82) averaged 16.7 per punt return. This guy has a chance to break ever single one of them. He is physical, a heck of an athlete and our guys believe in him. To average 16.7 in a big game like that is a heck of a deal. He made several key plays for us on offense too. Nick (Novak, K, #3) I don't know what you can say about that. The thing I shared about Nick is that we have a thing around here. If you miss a field goal towards the end of the game don't look over for 10 seconds because there are a lot of people calling you a lot of names. I think all of us in the stadium felt the same way. The other great thing about football is who would dream that in a matter of two minutes he would get a second opportunity. To see him hit that thing it says a lot about him as a competitor. You like to see it for a guy like that."

On the field goal block:

"The field goal block was something that is hard for our fans to get an appreciation for. We had great effort on the other field goals. As a consequence from that they were concerned about our rush--particularly Andre Carter (DE, #99) who made a great charge in there about three or four times. They got worried about him rushing from the inside. I think what happened was that they were so concerned about that, that they started bringing the wing back in to help inside. On the last field goal they opened up a seam there and Troy (Vincent, S, #23) was able to get through there and block that kick. Then to have Sean (Taylor, S, #21) pick it up, if there is anybody on our defense we want to pick it up it is Sean. Every time he picks something up good things happen. It did down the stretch last year and it did this game. I thought for a second there he had a chance of breaking it. Then to get the face mask, have that thing marched off and be right at the break off line for a field goal is pretty phenomenal stuff. Special teams certainly did their part."

On how they played defensively against Dallas:

"We felt defensively we played hard, very emotional and very physical. We got the safety after we did not get it punched in on offense. We stopped the run. We averaged 3.8 yards per rush, both teams did. We had a little more rushing yardage than they did. That is important to us. We had real good plays in the second half. Our negatives were that we didn't like the second half. Our third downs were not as good as what we wanted. We had five explosive passes but the good thing is that they didn't finish them off and put them in the end zone on us. We did not have any takeaways and we had three defensive penalties. The defense had an outstanding effort. We got some guys healed up there. I think it has helped us."

On Cornelius Griffin's play against Dallas:

"We got Cornelius (Griffin, DT, #96) back in there and we started playing more physical against the run and against a very physical run team. Hopefully that will pick us up and point towards some good things down the road."

On how they played offensively against Dallas:

"We were aggressive and played hard. We were not consistent. It was hard to get anything consistent against them. We were hoping we would get big plays in there somewhere and we did that. We had seven plays of over 20 yards, which is a big deal for us. That was something that really helped us. We had a long drive. We held the ball for almost the entire first quarter. It did not result in points but it was a huge drive to be able to take the ball and hold it that long. Our negatives were that we were disappointed on the goal line. It was just really a guy here and a guy there. We had every opportunity to get that thing in the end zone and we couldn't get it in. You have to give them credit. In the third quarter we had two three and outs, so we didn't start the third quarter the way we wanted to. That is all we talked about during the week and at half time."

On why T.J. Duckett (RB, #36) has not been playing:

"Certainly we want to play him at some point. I feel awful that he is not getting a chance to play. My answer to that is Clinton Portis (RB, #26) and Ladell Betts (RB, #46). When you have Clinton Portis it is hard for us to say in any situation that you want him out of there. He is a heck of a football player. It is still something that I hope works out for us with T.J. and that he is going to get to play a bunch. That may be a consideration down the road. We have talked about it at times. I am always sensitive to our starting backs, particularly Clinton. With Clinton he is unselfish with something like that. A lot of times he is the one coming out of there when he is either winded or got nicked and he will say to Ladell take it.' If we ever decide to go with T.J. down there, Clinton would be the first one to give a thumbs up."

On Clinton Portis's injuries and playing through them:

"From an injury standpoint, it's been one thing after another for Clinton this year. I don't know anyone who wants to play more or is capable of breaking a game open like he did on Sunday. Injuries have definitely set him back and it's hurt us all. My hope is that he gets healthy and goes on down the stretch."

On how much a win like this can help spring board the team in the right direction:
"I don't think you ever know but certainly at this point in the season and being 2-5 our football team needed a lift. This is an emotional lift for us. We have to go to Philly and that is going to be a tough deal."

On Santana Moss (WR, #89) and if he will be back soon from his hamstring injury:
"I think it is going to depend on this week. They felt like today that he had a good work out and looked good. He had some blood from that injury at the bottom of his hamstring and that has to go away. He has been around a long time and what we will do is just work. You can't rush that back. I am going to hope he is ready for this week but it will be up to him and our medical team."

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